During Friday night’s fourth inning against Kansas City, three St. Louis Cardinals players, outfielders Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel plus infielder Khalil Greene collected home runs.
While it was the 28th time this occurred for the club in the last 55 years, it is only the second time since the 2006 World Championship season and first time since July, 2007.
What may have been most encouraging was that Albert Pujols was not part of the trifecta. He had been involved in each of the last three three-home run innings collected by the Cardinals.
Ludwick’s Friday grand slam to lead off the run was the first as part of a single-inning three home run performance by the club since Mark McGwire in 1999.
| Date | Opp | Inn | BI | BI | BI | |||
| 6/19/2009 | @KC | T3 | Ludwick | 4 | Ankiel | 1 | K.Greene | 1 |
| 7/15/2007 | @PHI | T7 | Pujols | 1 | Encarnacion | 1 | Kennedy | 1 |
| 10/1/2006 | MIL | B9 | Duncan | 1 | Pujols | 1 | Spiezio | 1 |
| 8/18/2006 | @CHC | T7 | Pujols | 2 | Rolen | 1 | Belliard | 2 |
| 7/24/2005 | CHC | B1 | Nunez | 1 | Edmonds | 1 | Mabry | 1 |
| 4/9/2004 | @ARZ | T3 | Lankford | 1 | Rolen | 2 | Sanders | 1 |
| 7/3/2003 | SFG | B2 | Renteria | 3 | Pujols | 3 | Rolen | 1 |
| 6/25/2003 | CIN | B1 | Hart | 1 | Edmonds | 1 | Rolen | 1 |
| 9/20/2002 | HOU | B6 | Marrero | 1 | Edmonds | 1 | Rolen | 1 |
| 9/19/2002 | @COL | T8 | Marrero | 1 | Edmonds | 1 | Pujols | 1 |
| 7/2/2002 | SDP | B2 | Polanco | 2 | Edmonds | 1 | Pujols | 1 |
| 4/13/2000 | @COL | T1 | Polanco | 1 | Tatis | 1 | Edmonds | 1 |
| 4/6/2000 | CHC | B3 | Tatis | 3 | Drew | 1 | Matheny | 1 |
| 9/20/1999 | @CHC | T7 | McGwire | 1 | Howard | 2 | Drew | 1 |
| 9/17/1999 | HOU | B4 | McGwire | 4 | Howard | 1 | Tatis | 1 |
| 4/23/1999 | @LAD | T3 | Tatis | 4 | Marrero | 1 | Tatis | 4 |
| 6/3/1997 | COL | B5 | DeShields | 1 | Gant | 3 | Mabry | 3 |
| 5/14/1997 | @PHI | T9 | Franklin | 1 | Gaetti | 1 | Clayton | 2 |
| 7/12/1996 | @CHC | T5 | Lankford | 1 | Gant | 1 | Gaetti | 2 |
| 10/1/1990 | @MON | T3 | Bry.Smith | 2 | Gilkey | 1 | Thompson | 1 |
| 4/11/1986 | MON | B3 | McGee | 2 | Clark | 1 | Landrum | 1 |
| 8/22/1980 | @ATL | T4 | Hernandez | 2 | Simmons | 1 | Reitz | 3 |
| 7/6/1979 | @ATL | T4 | Reitz | 1 | Tyson | 1 | Templeton | 1 |
| 7/21/1966 | ATL | B5 | C.Smith | 1 | Flood | 3 | Cepeda | 1 |
| 7/18/1964 | NYM | B8 | Boyer | 4 | White | 1 | McCarver | 1 |
| 6/27/1962 | @CHC | T6 | Sawataski | 1 | Javier | 2 | Flood | 1 |
| 6/26/1959 | @CIN | T8 | Cunningham | 1 | Boyer | 2 | Musial | 2 |
| 7/21/1956 | BRO | B8 | Sauer | 1 | H.Smith | 1 | Musial | 2 |
As always, thanks to Tom Orf for the data pull.
